How do social enterprises resource themselves?

Social enterprises often work in places, and markets, where resources are scarce. Indeed, the path from pitching a great idea to establishing a sustainable business with social impact is extremely challenging and full of uncertainties.

In responding to these uncertainties, a common feature of established social enterprises is an ability to identify and obtain the different resources they need to grow.

There are several resource types that social enterprises typically seek:

Examples

Intangible Resources

Examples

Human Capital

Human resources including, paid staff, members and volunteers

Intellectual Capital

Product or service knowledge and innovation

Social Capital

Networks, trust and relationships

So, how do social enterprises respond to capture the resources they need? They tend two use two approaches: bootstrapping and bricolage. Bootstrapping involves social enterprise businesses reducing the need to seek further inflow of financial resources, by reducing costs or accessing financial resources through internal or informal means.

Bricolage refers to ‘making do with what is at hand’, and explains the creative ways that businesses can bridge resourcing gaps, for example improvisation by combining existing resources in new ways.

From our research, we found that social enterprises engage in both activities when resourcing their businesses. Typical activities included:

Thinking creatively about how services might be applied to new market opportunities.

There is also the important role of the wider ‘ecosystem’. Successful social enterprises rely on help, advice and financial support from many different stakeholders, from personal networks and sector intermediaries to government departments, impact investors and philanthropy. Each group plays a role in providing the right support and resources that social enterprises need to start-up and develop their businesses.

In the following three sections, we provide some clear recommendations for social enterprises, intermediaries and financiers, and policy-makers. Use the links to navigate between each section.

RESEARCH PARTNERS

This web-tool was developed as part of the research program 'Supporting Development and Growth in the Community Sector in Western Australia', which was funded and supported by the Bankwest Foundation. We'd like to sincerely thank the Bankwest Foundation, our participating social enterprise organizations, and the wider social enterprise network in Western Australia for their commitment and contributions to this project.